


One Track Mind

by orphan_account



Series: Call it a Sleep Deprived Oneshot [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Crack, Gen, Multiple Barrys, Time Travel, don't screw with time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 08:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5658751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry travelled in time again but something went wrong and now there's two of him. Team Arrow is confused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Track Mind

His day started off oh so simple. He woke up, had a decent breakfast, came down to the Arrow cave to test out his equipment. When he arrived he found Diggle and Felicity already there which, though not entirely unusual, was a pleasant surprise.  
  
Then Barry Allen arrived and, of course, his day got weird.  
  
"Shh, just stay here for a minute. I need to give them a heads up," the speedster's voice said from the door which in itself was odd since normally he arrived in a blur that sent every light weight object in the room flying into the air.  
  
"Barry?" Felicity called.  
  
"Hey!" he said quickly, jogging down the stairs as he pulled off his mask. "What's uh- What's up?"  
  
"Nothing much really. Just...finishing some paperwork," she said, shooting him a weird look. He nodded enthusiastically.  
  
"Barry, who did you tell to wait outside the door of our secret base?" Oliver asked.  
  
"No one special," Barry said but the voice came from the-  
  
Oliver looked towards the stairs to find Barry standing there, dressed in his flash costume with the mask pulled down...But Barry was still standing right in front of him.  
  
Original Barry turned around to face the other Barry.  
  
"What the hell? I told you to wait outside!" he stressed. Other Barry shrugged.  
  
"This is when I came in the first time. I'm just following in my own footsteps."  
  
"Barry...whichever one of you is the real one-" Diggle started to say but they both interrupted him at the exact same time.  
  
"We're both the real Barry."  
  
Original Barry pinched the bridge of his nose while other Barry leaned back against the wall.  
  
"Team Arrow, meet me from nine hours in the future," original Barry said. Other Barry waved at them.  
  
"Time travel?" Felicity asked slowly.  
  
"Yeah...I try not to mess with it too much. Normally when I do it I sort of...replace past me but for some reason this time I didn't."  
  
"It's a long story," other Barry added.  
  
"Anyway," the original continued. "This morning half the city was...well, would have been destroyed which I guess is what prompted me to go back in time in the first place but-"  
  
"Because there were two of us, the city had already been saved so he just has to wait another nine hours and then he can go back in time and I can continue my, hopefully paradox free, day."  
  
"But Cisco will have a heart attack or something trying to figure out the possible ramifications. Besides-" original Barry said.  
  
"The first time around we came here and as I was saying, we're trying not to screw with time too much," other Barry finished.  
  
"So is it cool if he stays here for a while? Just a few hours I swear!" original Barry said quickly.  
  
"And remember, I'm him so if you say no we will both be extremely offended," other Barry put in. "Or at least...he will be in nine hours."  
  
Oliver hesitated.  
  
"Sure, your double from the future can hang out here for a while," Felicity said quickly.  
  
"Thanks! You're a life saver!" original Barry said quickly. He opened his mouth to say something else but other Barry threw up his hands.  
  
"I'm staying, okay? I won't move from this spot unless you tell me to."  
  
"You ARE me. Which means you're basically saying that you won't move unless you think it's a good idea," original Barry huffed.  
  
"Well, then I guess you're just going to have to trust your own judgement," other Barry said, rolling his eyes. "Now go."  
  
Original Barry vanished, sending all of the papers on the desk flying.  
  
"Sorry," other Barry said. "It was important though."  
  
The trio stared at him for a moment.  
  
"Look, I am the exact same Barry Allen you knew ten minutes ago. If I'd come in here by myself you wouldn't have a problem. I'm just me from a couple hours ahead of time and man it feels good to be able to use my own words," he said with a grin.  
  
"Your own words?" Oliver asked, doing his best to keep up with whatever the hell was happening.  
  
"Yeah, when you travel in time and you want certain things to stay the same, best thing you can do is try to do exactly what you did before. But, as you can see, I'm not here now. Or, past me isn't here now. Which means I don't have to struggle to try and remember exactly what I said when I watched myself say it. You get it?"  
  
"No," Diggle said immediately. Other Barry shrugged.  
  
"Mind if I grab some food? Traveling in time really takes a lot out of a person, he said and was gone before any of them had the opportunity to reply. A while later he returned, takeaway food bags in his hands.  
  
Oliver recognised the logo on one of them, it was from the sushi place down the corner.  
  
Other Barry set that one aside and picked up a bag of Chinese.  
  
"I got you guys Thai, it's the brown bag on the desk."  
  
Oliver chose to stand back, his hand lingering on his bow while his team mates helped themselves.  
  
"So," Diggle said slowly. "How's the future?"  
  
Other Barry snorted. "Nobody destroys the city in the next few hours so I guess that's something."  
  
Seemingly satisfied, the bodyguard took a seat. It wasn't long before Roy showed up, Oliver swore the kid had some sort of sixth sense when it came to knowing when someone had brought back food.  
  
"Oh, hey Barry. I didn't know you were dropping by today," he said as he took a seat.  
  
"I guess you could say it came as a surprise to both of us," other Barry muttered, handing Roy a bag of Mexican.  
  
"Wait, how did you know I was going to-" he began.  
  
"Lucky guess," other Barry replied but his attention was focused solely on the clock on the wall. "And 5, 4, 3, 2..."  
  
The original Barry streaked through the Arrow cave, making Roy jump. Oliver almost choked when he took in the sight.  
  
There was Barry, in his full flash costume, standing beside an identical Barry Allen who was, for some reason, wearing a sombrero.  
  
"I picked the hat up at the Mexican place," other Barry explained. "So you can tell us apart."  
  
"Our life sucks," sombrero Barry summarised, collapsing into a chair.  
  
"Uh," Roy said slowly.  
  
"You're explaining this time," original Barry said to other Barry.  
  
"Nuh, uh. I already did it once," other Barry pointed out.  
  
"But that's only because I said it and you're me! Technically you haven't had to tell the story in nine hours which means it's your turn."  
  
"Eight and a half," other Barry muttered.  
  
"I've been through this argument twice already, Barry from eight and a half hours in the future you're telling the story," sombrero Barry said sounding exasperated.  
  
"Fine," other Barry muttered.  
  
Roy seemed to have a basic understanding of the situation by the time they were done but he had the advantage of being a sci-fi fan.  
  
"Wait...So why did you come back then?" he asked, gesturing to sombrero Barry.  
  
"Because while I was simultaneously stopping a bank robbery and eating Chinese food a building was collapsing in Central City. Iris was there but I got her and everybody else out. I guess it would have ended badly because I don't know what else would have promoted me to repeat this hellish day," he said as he massaged his temples.  
  
"But...you've already lived this day before," Roy said, gesturing to other Barry.  
  
"Yup," he replied.  
  
"So you knew that he- you would be traveling back again."  
  
"Double yup."  
  
"Then why didn't you just-"  
  
"Because the only reason I knew it would happen is because I told myself. If I'd ensured I was never there to tell myself then I never would have stopped it, prompting me to go back in time thus creating a paradox," sombrero Barry snapped irritably.  
  
"And I," original Barry began and other Barry joined in. "Am trying to keep this a paradox free day."  
  
Sombrero Barry even half heartedly mouthed out the words.  
  
"So how far in the future are you from?" Oliver asked hesitantly.  
  
"I'm living this day over for the third time," sombrero Barry said miserably. "I honestly don't even know if I'm from the future anymore."  
  
Other Barry handed sombrero Barry the sushi takeaway bag which he accepted gratefully.  
  
"Hey," original Barry said. "What about me?"  
  
Other Barry tossed him what looked like a protein bar.  
  
"The strongest Cisco's got. It tastes like dirt but trust me, you've got a long day ahead of you," other Barry explained.  
  
At that moment the door slammed open. Oliver looked up to see another flash, this one completely covered in various food ingredients. From the look of it, it was mostly just ketchup and mustard but there were bits of lettuce stuck to him and what looked like peanut butter covering the left side of his mask.  
  
He collapsed on the floor, unmoving. Sombrero Barry whimpered pitifully, other Barry adopted a grim expression and patted original Barry's leg sympathetically.  
  
"Seriously. Eat your protein bar."

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies to Scarletarrow, I'm trying to turn your ideas into fics but unfortunately I'm just not all that great at writing angst.
> 
> To all others: I hope you enjoyed this...whatever this is. I couldn't sleep, the idea was swimming around in my head and this is the result! If you've got any prompts, crack out otherwise, then feel free to share them and I'll see what I can do!


End file.
